Saturday, December 21, 2013

Miniature Golf course visit number 543 on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On a very rainy Saturday afternoon Emily and I made the latest course visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour as we visited the Crazy Golf course in Verulamium Park, St Albans.

The park was the location for the 17th course ever played on the Tour, way back in April 2007. I also revisited in November 2010 and noticed a couple of changes to the Minigolf.

Since that last visit the old course has been replaced by a new course. The new layout is still a 9-hole course and of the same fibreglass construction, but each of the holes is in the shape of a letter in the words "Crazy Golf".

Unfortunately that great Minigolf character 'Humpty' is now missing from the course :-(

The Verulamium Park Crazy Golf was the first we've been to that uses this particular layout. Although down the road in nearby Hemel Hempstead there is a Minigolf course at Gadebridge Park where each of the holes is in the shape of its number!

However, prior to the Pétanque action dinner was on the cards and so the group headed on a twenty minute amble to Clerkenwell for a slap-up Vietnamese meal at the excellent Pho Cafe. A great restaurant with excellent service, very tasty food, lots of gluten free options and big portions.

The Shenanigan gang in their best bib and tucker at Pho

With a short trip to Cambridgeshire (by visiting Ye Olde Mitre Tavern in Hatton Garden) on the way back to Baranis the players were ready to play some Boules.

Drinking an Absinthe Cocktail was perhaps not the best idea for Squire who crashed out in round one. The Cocktails seemed to do the trick for Jon though as he didn't lose until the final

The first match saw Jon ‘The Stance’ Angel play Trevor ‘Cheddar’ Robertson in a first to three-points contest. A closely fought affair saw Trevor stay true to form and become the first player eliminated from the tournament as John won 3-2.

Trevino bouleing at the 'Le Jacque'

The second contest saw Keith ‘Doc’ Kellard whitewashed by Martin ‘Smashing’ Robertson 3-0. This freed up Keith to take up refereeing duties for the rest of the evening.

Keith Kellard got whitewashed in the Petanque, but at least gets a photo of him in action in this blog post

The final match of the opening round saw shenanigan organiser ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried drawn to play Chris ‘Stretch’ Jones. In a match that went to the wire a loose boule by Gottfried allowed Stretch to pick up a total of four points to Squire’s two and move into the semi-finals.

Squire Petanqueing

Semi-final one saw Jonathon Angle against Martin Robertson in a first to four-point match. With Martin looking to smash Angel into the gravel of the Piste by taking a three-one lead some amazing Pétanqueing by Jon saw him score three-points in one end to take the win 4-3.

The second semi-final was a short match indeed as Emily battled Chris. In the second end Lemony scored three points to take the win 4-0.

The dusty shoed referees make a decision

So, the La Grande Final was to be a battle between the two shortest competitors, with Jon 'Johnny Foreigner' Angel to play Madame Lemony in a first to six-points contest.

With Monsieur Angel qualifying for the final first he had the honour of throwing first. The match was so close it was impossible to predict who would win and with the score level at four apiece an impromptu one-throw of Rock Paper Scissors was needed to see who would throw first in the next end. Angel won with a throw of scissors to Gottfried’s paper and so the match built to its conclusion.

In the final end of the tournament Madame Lemony threw some cracking shots and took the win and overall tournament victory with a 6-4 scoreline.

Lemony receives the Tiara, earrings and a big kiss off of Chris Jones! Ooh la la

Having won the big night out Emily was the unfortunate recipient of the prize – that had been specifically procured with what was thought to be Brad’s inevitable victory in mind.

The losing finalist John Angle

And so, another year’s Christmas ‘do’ drawing close the players began to concoct ideas of how to topple Lems from her lofty perch atop the world of crazy Minigolfer’s side-tournaments. With one potential option being some Ping Pong.

A beret wearing Emily - winner of the Grand Final of Boules

But the night wasn’t yet over, as there was time left on the Piste the Repechage competition could begin!

Each of the losing seven players could earn the chance for a shot at glory by winning “La Conférence".

A great idea to give shoppers a fun break while out Christmas shopping, and especially for those people (like me) who would prefer to be doing anything but Christmas shopping while their partner carries on with the spending!

The 9-hole Christmas Crazy Golf course set-up at the Queensgate Shopping Centre in Peterborough. Photo by Mini Golf and Games

Iplayed the course towards the end of the summer when it was set-up in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire. It’s a very good layout and operated by the friendly team at Mini Golf and Games. Check out the links below for further details.

Earlier this year there had been talks of the town having no Christmas lights in 2013 due to the budget cuts affecting Luton Borough Council. However, Luton-based easyJet, and a number of other sponsors involved in the Love Luton campaign, stepped in to save them.

As well as the stars of the Dick Whittington, the characters from the Luton Library Theatre panto of Beauty and the Beast were in attendance at the event at Luton Town Hall*, along with the team from Heart Four Counties radio.

Luton's Christmas Tree all lit up

A nice touch were the 'Christmas by easyJet' hats. Very cheesy, but good fun.

The pointiest Christmas hat in Luton yesterday evening at quarter past five

Personally I would've liked it if ALL of the lights had been lit up in easyJet's distinctive orange branding!